Chris Matthews: This Obama mega-amnesty for illegals will be his Emancipation Proclamation

posted at 2:41 pm on August 7, 2014 by Allahpundit

Via RCP and Breitbart, I’m surprised more lefties haven’t already reached for this analogy to snuff objections to Obama’s power grabs. It doesn’t work legally — the Emancipation Proclamation was grounded in Lincoln’s war powers as commander-in-chief whereas Obama’s mega-amnesty would be grounded in … what, exactly? — but most Americans don’t care about constitutional niceties. Matthews is drawing a moral analogy. Lincoln liberated one group that was mired in second-class status, now Obama’s going to liberate another. I’m already looking forward to the artist’s rendering of O with a beard and stovepipe hat on the cover of Time when he finally does it.

There is obviously no analogy between slavery and the disadvantages the undocumented face today. Among many other differences, the undocumented arrived voluntarily, searching, often successfully, for a better life. Also, they established residence unlawfully, for which there must be some reckoning…

[But] the issue has this in common with slavery: It’s a long-standing debate over fundamental rights that the nation’s democratic institutions have proven incapable of resolving, leading to increasingly bitter partisan conflict…

There’s just one problem: Our system does not let the president make laws on his own, no matter how good his intentions. Lincoln himself was aware that he needed constitutional authority for the proclamation, invoking, plausibly, his power as commander in chief: Depriving the South of forced labor and making erstwhile slaves potential Union soldiers would help win the war, he argued…

In short, the broadest measure Obama is considering would be constitutionally dubious, politically explosive and flatly contradictory to his own recently expressed views.

Right, but the more you can sell it as an “emancipation,” the more the media will coo and try to bring the public around on it, constitutional warts and all. That’s one of the reasons I’ve been kicking around the idea of O doing all of this as a pardon rather than as “prosecutorial discretion.” The latter is dry and lawyerly, the former is kingly and magnanimous. It’s not quite emancipation — a pardon concedes that the subject has done something wrong — but it’s a grand gesture in the mold of emancipation. I guarantee you that he and his team have at least looked at framing amnesty as a pardon even if they ultimately choose another path.

One thing about Lane’s piece, though: What’s the timetable on deciding when “the nation’s democratic institutions have proven incapable of resolving” an issue? Ezra Klein’s piece for Vox made that assumption too in justifying bold executive action by O. If there’s a pressing policy problem and Congress is irretrievably deadlocked, the theory goes, then the president needs to step in. But … the Senate already passed an immigration bill with bipartisan support, as Obama himself noted during his presser last night. Clearly the Republican leadership in the House favors some sort of comprehensive deal; if Boehner had the guts to bring a bill to the floor, he might well end up with a majority of his own caucus in favor. Once the midterms are over, Republican leaders will begin to tremble at the thought that they haven’t pandered enough to Latino voters before 2016 and will immediately start babbling about comprehensive reform again. The odds of a bill early next year or even during the lame-duck session this year are fair. In which case, how has Congress “proven incapable of resolving” immigration? If you want to fill out this slavery analogy, America didn’t give up on resolving that issue legislatively until states started seceding and war broke out. Fast forward 150 years and the new touchstone of irreconcilable differences is John Boehner hemming and hawing a bit too long over whether to make a deal with Harry Reid. It’s bonkers.

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I swear, is every single liberal and leftist out there just a crooked, corrupt, power hungry zealot? What is it some super secret prerequisite for becoming a Dimocrat or something? You have to be a lying, cheating, scumbag that would sell out his own mother in order to join the party?

Also, the Emancipation Proclamation really didn’t do anything. A presidential edict that determines the rights of individuals in another sovereign nation (e.g., the Confederacy) has no applicability at all.

A majority of people in the United States say undocumented immigrants threaten their way of life and even the economy, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Thursday.

Seventy percent said they believe these illegal immigrants threaten U.S. customs and beliefs. Eighty-six percent of Republicans hold that belief.

Nearly two-thirds said illegal immigrants are a burden on the nation’s economy, the poll found.

The survey found 45 percent said the number of immigrants entering the country legally should be reduced while 17 percent said more should be allowed to come. Thirty-eight percent said the current flow of legal immigration should remain the same.

More people in New England oppose illegal immigration compared to the rest of the country, the poll said. Nearly 80 percent of people in that region said undocumented immigrants threaten U.S. beliefs and customs.

Wait, what??? I thought the South was supposed to be the racist, bigoted, xenophobic region!

Lincoln liberated one group that was mired in second-class status, now Obama’s going to liberate another.

Illegal aliens chose to break the law and come here (or stay here) illegally. They also choose to remain in their so-called “second-class status” — which suggests that that status must be preferable to them to going home.

Slaves didn’t voluntarily place themselves in their second-class status, nor did they voluntarily choose to remain in that status because they perceived it as more beneficial to them than going home.

If illegal aliens don’t like their “status” here, there is an easy way for them to change it (and it doesn’t require Obama to violate the constitution or any laws he has sworn an oath to uphold): get on a plane, train, bus, car, or whatever, and go home!

Once the midterms are over, Republican leaders will begin to tremble at the thought that they haven’t pandered enough to Latino voters before 2016 and will immediately start babbling about comprehensive reform again.

They might want to disconnect the phones first, which… they probably will.

This is the vapid argument / claim we get when one who is intellectually, ethically, and morally bankrupt attempts to draw a moral analogy.

I don’t think they’ve gotten the clue that it’s hard to appear ‘Presidential’ when one votes present, leads from behind, petulantly whinges about a mean Congress, and spends more time on the golf course than attending to national security.

I guarantee you that he and his team have at least looked at framing amnesty as a pardon even if they ultimately choose another path.

No doubt.

But a mass pardon for illegal entry or illegally overstaying a visa (and/or not filing/paying federal income taxes for years, using fake documents, identity theft, perjury on government forms, etc.) doesn’t give them the legal right to remain in the U.S. indefinitely, or to legally work here, or to be legally eligible for federal benefits, etc., which is what they want.

Obama’s mega amnesty would actually destroy his own party we already know he doesn’t care about Latino’s…given he is letting their kids die in the desert and be raped. Mega amnesty would only enhance these atrocities ten fold.

That’s one of the reasons I’ve been kicking around the idea of O doing all of this as a pardon rather than as “prosecutorial discretion.”

They would have to convict every one of them in federal court, first, and then grant a pardon. That would be the largest pardon in the history of the US. Also, they would all have to be convicted in DC Superior Court.

2. Federal convictions only

Under the Constitution, only federal criminal convictions, such as those adjudicated in the United States District Courts, may be pardoned by the President. In addition, the President’s pardon power extends to convictions adjudicated in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and military court-martial proceedings.

I don’t really see that happening. I am sure they have though about it, but even Obozo isn’t that crazy. Or is he….?

Lincoln was very shrew to keep his emancipation within the confines of the war powers of the Constitution. He did not free all of the slaves — in fact, he did not free any of them upon the issuance of the proclamation. He only freed those slaves that were NOT in territories controlled by his armies. Meaning, the proclamation did not free the slaves in the areas under union control, but only the slaves under Confederate control. No one was freed. It was a promise to free in the future the slaves in enemy territory whenever they are liberated from the Confederacy. There was no war time justification for freeing slaves under union control. So. those slaves unlucky to be in territory under union control at the time of the proclamation would have to remain slaves until the 13th is ratified.

That’s odd because here in Northern Florida the guys who do the yards are grown white men. The guys who do the recycling and garbage collection are also, mail carrier is an older white lady. Now they are all private company jobs but still seem to like being employed.

8 hours until the polls close in Tennessee to defeat the amnesty shill Lamar Alexander.

Carr has a better idea, NO amnesty!
anotherJoe on August 7, 2014 at 2:51 PM

Are there any other R’s running against Alexander except George Shea Flinn? The Fox article you linked to seemed to think this is a negative for Alexander. I would have thot it would hurt Carr. The Fox article says he put in a million of his own money; wonder how much the Rove/GOPe cabal has put in.

The NRSC & other GOPe’s back Candidates in order to draw votes from the Conservative/Tea Party Candidates. Just wonder if what happened in Kansas is happening in TN. This appears to be the pattern.

Like you Allah, but you’ve got the Lincoln analogy exactly wrong. The ‘Proclamation’ allegedly ‘freed’ those slaves ONLY in the non Union occupied South. Slaves continued to be ‘legal’ in those areas controlled by the union Army, and in the North. It was a political ploy on Lincoln’s part to foment black rebellion in the South (didn’t happen) and create a rallying cry in the North because the War was not going well for it. The War Powers Act had no force in law, as the South legally/Constitutionally seceded from the North (for reasons, to a great extent, unrelated to slavery, although it was an important issue, especially in the territories). The Federal government finally admitted as much when it required Loyalty Oaths and changes in the state constitutions of the seceded states as conditions for them to RETURN to the union. It took 10+ years of wholesale theft of ‘reconstruction’ before all the, theretofore, sovereign states were ‘permitted’ to return to Federal hegemony. Slavery, an odious institution and known in the South as the “peculiar institution” (practiced by less than 10% of the white populace, btw) would have ended apace, without the loss of 600,00 dead. The overarching question ref the War was, “Will the states continue to be sovereign per the Constitution, or subservient to the Federal government?” We now know the answer to that question and are now reaping the whirlwind of an overly powerful Federal gummint. Deo Vindice.

If they say] ‘We don’t get a vote because Harry Reid is not allowing us to have a vote on this,’ [then ask] ‘Why don’t you vote against Harry Reid? Why don’t you oppose his leadership?’ It’d clarify that issue in an effective way, I think, and I think we can win—and then you have the one thing that politicians fear: That is having your clock cleaned on election day. I think there’s fear out there now, and people realize they’re not going to be able to get away any longer double-timing the American people on the question of immigration.

Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth[)], and which excepted parts, are for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.

And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.

Just like all politicians, he exempted some of his friends and only attacked his political enemies.

If he thought slavery was so bad, why not say, “in all states and territories of the United States”?

Still waiting for someone to let us know, if millions of latinos get to break laws to better their lives, what laws do the rest of us get to break to better our lives? Because i can think of more than a few i’d like to break that would better my life a whole lot. Or have our betters decided that only latinos lives are worth bettering and the rest of us lowly serfs just aren’t deemed worthy?

The left wants to make this pathetic analogy? Fine. Let’s hunt down every illegal alien, ship them back to Mexico or Central America, then kidnap them, put them in chains, bring them back here, make them work for nothing, whip and hang them when they get out of line, strip them of every single right they have, and teach them the phrases “yes, masser” “no, masser”. Then Obama can deliver a fine speech and he’ll have his true Lincoln moment.

Biden Admits Illegals Flooding Border Are Not Fleeing Violence In Their Countries…
One of the many things Biden is not good at: Keeping secrets.
Via Breitbart:

… On Wednesday, in remarks before a group of activists, Biden said the violence in Central America, is “bad, but nothing’s changed. Nothing’s changed in six months or a year, the neighborhoods are no more violent or less violent.”

It will cause some emancipation from jobs in the black communities for sure. No longer will millions of Obama’s people be slaves to employment. They will be free at last from any hope of having a working future.

Once the midterms are over, Republican leaders will begin to tremble at the thought that they haven’t pandered enough to Latino voters

Make no mistake, its not latino voters but the freakin’ Chamber of Commerce they are pandering to.

This issue was sprung fully formed about 10 seconds after the polls closed in 2012. “Oh noes! We Bepurblicanz must haz lost because Latino voteses!” which was absurd on its face and simply untrue mathematically.

But it does provide some ridiculous fragment of cover for the elites’ lust to import more cheap labor, whether it is Indian IT guys or Guatemalan nannies.

And as for those “leaders” of the Republicans, (those fortunates with the widest spaces at the trough)- they could care less which particular flavor of OurParty is dominant, as long as they themselves are not disturbed at their feeding.

1). I question the timing – what hasn’t the Liar-in-Chief done the deed yet?

At least in the near term, every day brings us closer to the midterms, every day wasted means that people will still be upset about Obama’s coup if his tries this stunt.

2). The Limbaugh theorem applies here – why would Obama want his fingerprints all over amnesty – especially if and when we suffer a terrorist attack from some who sneaked in over the porous border, courtesy of the Dear Leader.

Same thing for a disease outbreak or major crime explosion from the same source.

Will Obama want to be held responsible for these events or would he rather want be able to blame others?

Having said that, I am sure that trying to pardon millions would most assuredly push the GOP to ensure that at least that small hurdle is overcome should Jugears try that route.

I just hope that we don’t have to find out.

Patriot Vet on August 7, 2014 at 3:29 PM

Yes, but I don’t think the pardon route is going to get Barry to where the illegals want to go. He can pardon them for their illegal entries, for their illegal overstays of visas, for not paying/filing federal tax returns, for document fraud, welfare fraud, and the various other types of federal crimes that so-called “law abiding” illegal aliens routinely commit, but he can’t use his pardon power to legalize their future residence in the U.S.

To legally remain in the U.S., and to work and receive benefits here, they need some type of visa or other authorization, and as soon as Obama starts unilaterally issuing those (as he has done with the clearly illegal DACA EO), he is infringing on congress’ exclusive constitutional authority to regulate immigration.

Obama got away (so far) with the DACA abuse of power. He may try something like that again, with a different group of illegal aliens that he thinks are sympathetic. But the public mood has shifted since the border surge began, and the public (and congress) may not be so docile about Obama’s lawlessness next time he does it.

I swear, is every single liberal and leftist out there just a crooked, corrupt, power hungry zealot? What is it some super secret prerequisite for becoming a Dimocrat or something? You have to be a lying, cheating, scumbag that would sell out his own mother in order to join the party?

Raquel Pinkbullet on August 7, 2014 at 2:51 PM

You forgot “spiteful”, “vengeful”, and “eliminationist” (as they desire to be murderers, but are still too afraid to get their hands bloody)

I swear, is every single liberal and leftist out there just a crooked, corrupt, power hungry zealot? What is it some super secret prerequisite for becoming a Dimocrat or something? You have to be a lying, cheating, scumbag that would sell out his own mother in order to join the party?

Raquel Pinkbullet on August 7, 2014 at 2:51 PM

You forgot “spiteful”, “vengeful”, and “eliminationist” (as they desire to be murderers, but are still too afraid to get their hands bloody)

Because in any just and civilized society, we want to encourage and even reward law-breaking, right Chrissy?

That’s what “freedom” is all about, isn’t it? The liberty to ignore any laws you don’t personally like or agree with, or which cause you inconvenience, or deprive you of some economic benefit you’d like to have?

Rush made a good point yesterday by saying that he doesn’t think Obama will issue an e.o. on amnesty. He had both houses under democratic control and didn’t do it. Rush said there is no positive in doing it, only blame. However, he wants to goad the Republicans in doing it, so they will get the blame.

Something to think about, since the stupid party is beating the drums.

Unintended consequences…
MSNBC loses the ratings war to Telemundo,
Tinkles loses his job because no one wants to listen to an old white guy spouting his liberal opinion in Spanglish with a Boston accent.